CN110089145B

CN110089145B - Method, user equipment and network node for measurement reporting

Info

Publication number: CN110089145B
Application number: CN201780079300.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 范锐; 李韶华; 安德烈斯·雷亚; 克莱斯·蒂德斯塔
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Current assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Priority date: 2016-11-04
Filing date: 2017-11-02
Publication date: 2022-10-04
Anticipated expiration: 2037-11-02
Also published as: US11477684B2; US11057789B2; CN110089145A; EP3536014A4; WO2018082628A1; US20200059807A1; US20210084518A1; CN115065393A; RU2718589C1; JP2020502879A; JP6998374B2; EP3536014A1

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods and network nodes for measurement reporting and user equipment. In an example embodiment, a method implemented in a user equipment is provided. According to the method, a user equipment detects a plurality of beams from one or more neighboring nodes of a UE; forming a group of measurements based on the beam grouping information; and then sending a measurement report to a serving node of the UE, the measurement report including the measurement results of the group. According to the present disclosure, the UE is able to report more neighbor nodes in the measurement report.

Description

Method, user equipment and network node for measurement reporting

Technical Field

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly to a method, user equipment and network node for measurement reporting.

Background

This section is intended to provide a background or context to the disclosure that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that are claimed, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived, pursued, or described. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

In the future generation, high frequency communication is now being discussed. Due to the severe path loss problem in high frequency scenarios, high gain beamforming is needed to provide good coverage and high bit rate. Each beam is identified by a beam identifier and the user equipment UE is able to measure the quality of the respective beam. The beam from the UE's serving node can be acknowledged by the UE. However, beams from neighboring nodes cannot be explicitly acknowledged by the UE. That is, the UE does not know which beam is from which neighbor node, except for the beam from the UE's serving node.

On the other hand, the UE is required to measure the quality of its neighboring nodes by measuring the quality of beams from the neighboring nodes, and then report the measurement results to its serving node. The serving node will decide whether a handover is required for the UE based on the measurement report. Since the UE does not know the relation of the beams to their neighbors, it is proposed that the UE reports the quality of each individual beam. According to this proposal, the maximum number of reporting beams is limited. In order to inform the serving node of the quality of the neighboring nodes in time, a report is triggered as soon as any beam from any neighboring node has a better quality than the beam from the serving node.

There are several problems with this proposal. Taking the scenario in fig. 6 as an example, the inventors found that some neighboring nodes that may be good handover candidates may not be included in the measurement report of the UE due to the limited number of reporting beams. Also, the situation may be worse when some of the reported beams with the best quality are from the same node. In fig. 6, cell 0 with beam 1 and beam 2 belongs to the serving node of the UE. The beam from the neighboring node 1 (shown as cell 1) has

indices

3, 4 and the beam from the neighboring node 2 (shown as cell 2) has indices 5, 6. The UE detects beams 1-6. Assuming that the maximum number of beams reported from the neighbor node is 2, for example, if the reference signal received power of

beams

3, 4 is better than the reference signal received power of beams 5, 6, the UE will only report the beam quality corresponding to neighbor node 1. Other examples of characterization of beam quality include one or more of the following: reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR), etc. When the neighbor node 1 is overloaded and the quality of the serving node deteriorates, the serving node will have no candidates to perform handover for the UE.

In summary, it should be considered how to provide more quality information of neighboring nodes in the measurement report.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present disclosure to at least solve the above problems and to provide a method, a radio network node and a terminal device as follows.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method for measurement implemented by a UE is presented, the method comprising:

detecting a plurality of beams from one or more neighboring nodes of the UE;

forming a group of measurements based on the beam grouping information;

transmitting a measurement report to a serving node of the UE, wherein the measurement result of the group is included in the measurement report.

Further embodiments provide a method wherein forming a group of measurements based on beam grouping information comprises:

obtaining a plurality of measurements corresponding to each of a plurality of beams;

classifying all measurement results of beams belonging to the group, wherein the beam grouping information indicates a mapping relationship between the beams and the group;

one measurement of the group is determined based on all measurements of beams belonging to the group.

In some embodiments, determining one measurement of the group comprises:

obtaining an average of all measurements of beams belonging to the group; or

The maximum of all measurements of the beams belonging to the group is obtained.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises:

obtaining the beam grouping information from the serving node through dedicated signaling; or alternatively

Obtaining the beam grouping information from the one or more neighboring nodes of the UE on one or more broadcast channels.

In some embodiments, the beam grouping information comprises any one of: frequency location ranges, opportunity ranges, or beam ID ranges, enable the UE to classify beams within any one range into a group.

In some alternative embodiments, the beam grouping information includes a mapping relationship between a group and the determined beam.

In further embodiments, prior to forming one measurement of the group, the method further comprises:

receiving a preference for measurement reports from the serving node;

based on the preferences, determining measurement reports is based on each group.

A second aspect of the present disclosure provides a method implemented by a network node for obtaining measurement reports, wherein the network node is a serving node of a user equipment, UE. The method comprises the following steps:

obtaining beam grouping information of one or more neighboring nodes from the one or more neighboring nodes;

notifying the UE of beam grouping information of the one or more neighboring nodes;

receiving a measurement report from the UE, wherein the measurement report includes at least one measurement result of a group corresponding to the beam grouping information.

In further embodiments, prior to notifying the beam grouping information of the one or more neighboring nodes, the method may further comprise:

notifying the UE of its preference for measurement reporting; wherein the preference indicates that measurement reporting is on a per group basis.

A third aspect of the present disclosure provides a method implemented by another network node for obtaining a measurement report. The network node is a neighbor node of a serving node of a user equipment, UE, and the method comprises:

broadcasting its beam grouping information on a broadcast channel;

wherein the beam grouping information indicates a mapping relationship between beams from the network node and a group, enabling the UE to identify beams belonging to the group.

In a further embodiment, the method further comprises:

the network nodes are informed of their own relationship to the group.

In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure also provides an apparatus at a user equipment. The device includes:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processing unit and having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the apparatus to implement any of the above-described UE method embodiments.

In a fifth aspect, the present disclosure also provides an apparatus at a network node. The device comprises:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processing unit and having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the apparatus to implement any of the above network method embodiments.

In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a communication system is provided. The communication system includes a host computer. The communication system comprises processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a communication interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a User Equipment (UE); wherein the cellular network comprises a base station having a radio interface and processing circuitry, and the processing circuitry of the base station is configured to perform a method according to the second or third aspect of the disclosure.

A seventh aspect of the present disclosure provides a method implemented in a communication system that includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE. The method comprises the following steps: at a host computer, providing user data; and initiating, at a host computer, a transmission to the UE carrying the user data via a cellular network comprising a base station, wherein the base station is configured to perform a method according to the second or third aspect of the disclosure.

An eighth aspect of the present disclosure provides a communication system including a host computer including: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a communication interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a UE, wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform a method according to the first aspect of the disclosure.

A ninth aspect of the present disclosure provides a method implemented in a communication system that includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE. The method comprises the following steps: at a host computer, providing user data; and initiating, at the host computer, a transmission to the UE carrying the user data via a cellular network comprising a base station, wherein the UE is configured to perform a method according to the first aspect of the disclosure.

With the solutions set forth in the above-described aspects of the present disclosure, as well as those discussed below, it is possible to report more neighboring node qualities to the serving node of the UE. Thus, the serving node will have more suitable candidates to determine the handover. By switching in time, network resources can be more reasonably allocated and service can be better provided for the user equipment.

Drawings

The disclosure will be discussed in more detail hereinafter by way of exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a method implemented by a UE for per-group reported measurement reporting.

Fig. 2 is a signaling flow diagram exemplarily illustrating a method for a serving node to obtain beam grouping information and provide it to its UE according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is an example of beam grouping information broadcast by a network node in accordance with one or more embodiments.

Fig. 4 is an example of beam grouping information broadcast by a network node in accordance with one or more embodiments.

Fig. 5 is a logic flow diagram that illustratively shows a method by which a UE obtains network-side preferences for measurements and acts accordingly in accordance with one or more embodiments.

Fig. 6 is a scenario where a UE is able to detect more than one beam from its serving and neighboring cells, which is applicable to the background and disclosed embodiments.

Fig. 7 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a user equipment and a network node suitable for implementing some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure described in detail herein.

Fig. 8 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a user equipment suitable for implementing some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure described in detail herein.

Fig. 9 schematically shows a telecommunications network connected to host computers via an intermediate network.

Fig. 10 is a general block diagram of a host computer communicating with user equipment via a base station over a portion of a wireless connection.

Fig. 11 and 12 are flow diagrams illustrating methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a user equipment.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which certain embodiments of the disclosure are shown. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

In general, all terms used in the claims are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical field, unless explicitly stated otherwise herein. For example, a user equipment in the present disclosure may be any terminal device that is connectable to a network, wirelessly or via a fixed connection, and that is capable of receiving and/or transmitting information from and/or to the network. Examples of network nodes such as the serving node and the neighboring nodes mentioned above may refer to any suitable radio access point or access node, e.g. a radio base station ("BS") according to any suitable communication standard, such as a node B ("NB") or an evolved NB ("eNB"), for performing the solutions discussed in detail later with reference to the figures.

All references to "a/an/the element, device, component, means, step, etc" are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, device, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any method disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless explicitly stated. The discussion above and below with respect to any aspect of the present disclosure is also in applicable parts related to any other aspect of the present disclosure.

Using beam grouping information known to the UE, the UE measures the quality of each individual beam while forming its measurement report in a different way. The beams detected by the UE are grouped according to beam grouping information. Multiple beams within the same group get a measurement, which may be the best quality or an average quality of the group.

In this way, more neighbor nodes can be reported in the measurement report, giving more handover candidates to the serving node.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a method implemented by a UE for measurement is provided. The method comprises the following steps:

detecting a plurality of beams from one or more neighboring nodes of the UE;

forming a group of measurements based on the beam grouping information;

transmitting a measurement report to a serving node of the UE, wherein the measurement report includes the measurement results of the group.

Fig. 1 shows how a UE forms its measurement report in an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 100 is described in more detail below.

In step 101, the UE obtains beam grouping information from the network side, such as a radio network node.

The beam grouping information indicates a relationship between a beam identifier and a group to which the beam belongs. One group may correspond to one neighbor node, or the neighbor nodes may be divided into two or more groups.

In step 102, the UE has detected multiple beams and the UE measures the quality of each individual beam. For each individual beam that the UE has detected, the UE knows its beam identifier and the corresponding quality.

The UE can obtain beam grouping information before it detects multiple beams, e.g., just after it connects to the serving node. Alternatively, the UE can obtain beam grouping information while it is detecting multiple beams. In the following description, the UE can obtain beam grouping information through a beam from a serving node or a neighboring node, which it detects. Alternatively, after the UE detects multiple beams and makes measurements thereof, the UE may wait until the beam grouping information comes. That is, step 101 may occur prior to step 102, or both steps may occur simultaneously.

In step 103, the UE obtains one measurement result per group based on the beam grouping information.

The UE obtaining one measurement result of the group based on the beam grouping information comprises the steps of:

Using the obtained beam grouping information, the UE groups its measurements for each beam into one measurement per group. As a preferred embodiment, the measurement of each group is an average of the measurements of the beams within the group.

In step 104, the UE sends its measurement report to its serving node.

Now a comparison is made with the example in the background art. In the measurement report, the maximum number of report beams becomes the maximum number of report groups, but the rule of the maximum number of report results remains unchanged, or 2. Both neighbor node 1 (as group 1) and neighbor node 2 (as group 2) can be reported based on the average beam strength of each neighbor node. More candidate neighbor measurement results can be reported to the serving node, but in the background, only neighbor 1 is reported to the serving node when beams 5 and 6 are of better quality than

beams

3 and 4.

The inventors have discovered some other problems in this proposal. In this proposal, measurements from the UE are reported more frequently than necessary. For example, if the quality of beam 5 is better than the quality of beam 1 from the serving node, then a measurement report is triggered to be sent, even though the average quality of beams 5 and 6 may be worse than the quality of beam 1, or may be worse than the average quality of

beams

1 and 2, both from the serving node. If the multiple beams from the neighboring node 2 are very unbalanced in quality, e.g., beam 5 is much better than beam 6, the service provided by the neighboring node 2 is not stable. When the serving node switches the UE to a neighboring node 2 (according to the report with the high quality beam 5), it is possible that shortly after the switch, the current serving node (node 5) will switch the UE to one of its neighboring nodes due to its sharp drop in signal strength, which results in a ping-pong effect.

Therefore, another embodiment for solving this problem is introduced. The threshold may be predetermined or dynamically set depending on the particular circumstances. The measurement report is only sent if the quality of the beam group is better than a threshold. The threshold may be equal to, or higher/lower than the average quality of the beams from the serving node, depending on practical requirements. In this way, the reporting frequency of measurement reports can be reduced.

There are several ways for the UE to obtain beam grouping information. Both methods will be explained in detail below from the point of view that the network node will inform the UE of beam grouping information.

One approach is for the serving node to communicate with its neighboring nodes to obtain group information for the beams from each neighboring node. Fig. 2 shows the main steps of the description using 2 neighboring nodes. In fig. 2, in step 201, the serving node negotiates with the neighboring node 1 to obtain beam grouping information of the neighboring node 1. This information is prepared by the serving node in step 201 and will be transmitted to the UE in step 203. During the negotiation, the neighbor node 1 exchanges its beam grouping information with the serving node, and thus learns the beam grouping information of the serving node. The negotiation will involve multiple signaling back and forth, but we use one step here for simplicity. Accordingly, the serving node obtains beam grouping information of the neighboring node 2 by negotiating with the neighboring node 2 in step 202. In step 203, the serving node transmits beam grouping information of the two neighboring nodes to the UE. There is no strict requirement on the order of step 201 and step 202. Also, step 203 can be split into two parts for reporting beam grouping information of the neighboring node 1 and the neighboring node 2, which are located after step 201 and step 202, respectively.

In step 203, the serving node notifies the UE of beam grouping information. This information may be sent through dedicated signaling, e.g., RRC-connection-reconfiguration, to indicate the operation of the UE.

In another embodiment, the beam grouping information may be, for example, any one of: frequency location range, timing range, or beam ID range, etc. Specific examples are described below, and are not limited to the above three ways.

Taking the range of opportunities as an example. The beam grouping information indicates which beams of the subframe(s) or transmission interval TTI belong to the same group (with a group ID). Assume that the UE detects beams 1-6, and beams 2 and 3 are within subframe 0 and beams 1 and 6 are within subframe 1. The UE is informed that the beam in subframe 0 belongs to neighbor node 1 (group 1, group ID is node ID). The UE groups beams 2 and 3 into the same group and forms one measurement based on the measurements of

beams

2 and 3.

Take the beam ID range as an example. The beam grouping information indicates the range of beam IDs belonging to the same group. The beam ID here does not necessarily need to be the actual identification of the beam, but the beam index is a good example. The mobility reference signal MRS includes a beam identification, and thus, the UE can recognize a beam through the MRS of the beam. Assuming that the beam grouping information indicates that beams with indices 5-8 are to be classified into the same group corresponding to the neighboring node 2, the UE groups the detected beams 5 and 6 into the same group.

One variation of the beam ID range example is to indicate that the UE uses a fixed number of beams in the same group. For example, beams 1-3 belong to group 0, beams 4-6 belong to group 1, beams 7-9 belong to group 2, and so on.

In another example, detected beams at the same physical resource block PRB location, or within the same PRB location range, may be indicated as the same group by beam grouping information. Beams with a limited time and frequency range will be classified by the UEs into the same group.

From the UE's perspective, in step 204, the UE derives a group based on the received beam grouping information, which implicitly indicates the mapping relationship between the beams and the group.

The alternative embodiment is varied in step 203. Transmitting an explicit mapping between the group ID and the determined beam ID to the UE. For example, group 1= { beam 0,5, 30}, packet 2= { beam, 3, 35, 100}. When the UE detects beams 5 and 30, its measurement report may include the measurement results of group 1. The serving node will then learn of the neighbor nodes or cells corresponding to group 1.

Using this method, in step 204, the UE can know which beam belongs to which group and thus from which neighbor node the beam came from, and can then group them together, which corresponds to steps 102-103 from the UE perspective. Steps 201 to 203 correspond to step 101 in fig. 1, but are described from the perspective of the serving node.

As to how the UE obtains beam grouping information (step 101 in fig. 1), another approach is for the neighboring nodes to provide their beam grouping information, which is mapping information between beams and groups via which messages are broadcast. The UE obtains the mapping information by detecting the broadcast messages from the neighboring nodes.

From the perspective of the network nodes, each node broadcasts information from its own beam, e.g., on its physical broadcast channel PBCH. From the UE's perspective, the UE acquires beam grouping information indicating a mapping relationship between beam IDs and its groups by detecting PBCHs from its neighboring nodes.

An example form of beam grouping information is shown in fig. 3.

The PBCH in figure 3 with its associated beam ID (0-n-1) is broadcast as master information block MIB in the broadcast channel of the neighboring node 1. One or more beam IDs are explicitly transmitted in the PBCH of each node. The PBCH is scrambled using the group ID. As described above, the network node ID may correspond to a single group ID, or may correspond to a plurality of group IDs. For example, when a node serves 3 cells, the group ID may correspond to a single cell ID. For simplicity, we take one node serving one cell in this example and the node ID as the group ID. Beams 0-n-1 broadcast the same PBCH shown in figure 3. From the UE perspective, as shown in step 101 in fig. 1, when it receives the PBCH in the beams shown in fig. 3, if it can decode the PBCH using the corresponding ID and then get the beam IDs of beam 0 to beam n-1 in the PBCH, the UE knows the mapping relationship between beam 0 to beam n-1 and the corresponding node. When the UE detects beam 0, the UE knows that beam 0 can be grouped to a node with a corresponding node ID.

Another example form of beam grouping information is shown in fig. 4. In this example, the group ID is a cell ID.

The PBCH is scrambled using the cell ID and transmitted through the beam. In this example, the nodes broadcast multiple PBCHs (i.e., PBCH 1, PBCH 2, PBCH 3, PBCH 4, PBCH 5) over different beams (beams 1-5), respectively. That is, PBCH is transmitted using beam scanning, e.g., PBCH 1 is transmitted through beam 1, PBCH 2 is transmitted through beam 2, etc. Each PBCH is scrambled using a group ID (cell ID). PBCH 1, PBCH 2, PBCH 3 are scrambled using cell ID 1, and PBCH 4 and PBCH 5 are scrambled using cell ID 2.

When the UE acquires PBCH, the UE can derive a beam associated with the group based on the scrambling ID generated from the cell ID and the resource allocation for the beam on which the PBCH is transmitted. In this example, the UE can associate cell ID 1 with beam 1, beam 2, beam 3, and can associate cell ID 2 with beam 4 and beam 5. Beams with the same cell ID may be assumed to be the same group at the UE. Thus, a mapping between one or more beams and groups thereof can be obtained.

To increase flexibility, the network node can also inform the UE of its preferences. For example, in an ideal backhaul environment, the cost of handover is low. Frequent switching is not an attempted scenario. The network side may want to know the quality of the individual beams to provide UE-centric services, which means that the UE is served by the best quality beam. But sometimes the preference of the network node is to know the group beam quality. Fig. 5 is a logic flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a solution from the UE perspective.

In step 510, the ue obtains beam grouping information and network preference information from the network side.

The UE may first obtain network preference information from its serving node. The UE will then check the preferences at step 502. When the preference indicates that each group reports, the UE may actively request beam grouping information, i.e., beam grouping information from the serving node in step 501. Alternatively, the serving node may provide this information to the UE on its own initiative, step 501. Alternatively, in step 501, the ue monitors and detects beams from neighboring nodes to obtain broadcast information of a beam packet. Subsequently, in step 504, when the UE detects beams from the neighboring nodes, the UE generates its measurement report for each group and reports the measurement report to the serving node.

When the preference indication in step 502 reports according to a beam and the UE detects a beam from a neighboring node, the UE generates its measurement report according to the beam and reports the measurement report to the serving node in step 503. From the above description, it can be seen that the steps in FIG. 5 are for logical understanding only. The actual steps and the order of the steps will not be limited to the above description and the order of the numbers (501-504) of the steps. It is envisaged that during connection of the serving node with the UE, the serving node may change its preferences and the UE will adjust the content of its measurement report accordingly, switching to or from

steps

503 and 504. The flexibility of measurement reporting is increased.

Similarly, according to the above method embodiments, a user equipment and a network node are also provided.

In particular, fig. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a user equipment 700 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the apparatus 700 includes: a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, a suitable Transmitter (TX) and Receiver (RX) coupled to the processor, and a communication interface (only an antenna is shown) coupled to the TX/RX. The memory stores at least a portion of the program. The program stores the instructions provided in the above embodiments implemented by the UE.

Fig. 7 is also suitable for illustrating a network node suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The network node may be a serving node of the UE or a neighboring node of the serving node. The network node comprises: a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, a suitable Transmitter (TX) and Receiver (RX) coupled to the processor, and a communication interface (only an antenna is shown) coupled to the TX/RX. The memory stores at least a portion of the program. The program stores instructions provided in the above embodiments implemented by the serving node or the neighboring node, respectively.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram of a UE 800 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the UE 800 includes: a detecting unit 810 configured to detect a plurality of beams from one or more neighboring nodes of the UE. The UE 800 further includes: a forming unit 820 configured to form one measurement result of a group based on the beam grouping information. The UE 800 further comprises: a sending unit 830 configured to send a measurement report to a serving node of the UE, wherein the measurement report includes the measurement result of the group.

Similarly, a network node, such as a serving node or a neighboring node, may also be divided into modules implementing the steps of the method claims.

Referring to fig. 9, according to an embodiment, a communication system includes: a telecommunications network 3210, such as a 3GPP type cellular network, includes an access network 3211 (such as a radio access network) and a core network 3214. The access network 3211 includes a plurality of

base stations

3212a, 3212b, 3212c, such as NBs, enbs, gnbs, or other types of wireless access points, each defining a

corresponding coverage area

3213a, 3213b, 3213c. Each

base station

3212a, 3212b, 3212c is connectable to a core network 3214 by a wired or wireless connection 3215. A first User Equipment (UE) 3291 located in coverage area 3213c is configured to wirelessly connect to a corresponding base station 3212c or be paged by the corresponding base station 3212 c. A second user equipment 3292 located in coverage area 3213a may wirelessly connect to a corresponding base station 3212a. Although

multiple UEs

3291, 3292 are shown in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to the case where only one UE is in the coverage area or is connected to a corresponding base station 3212.

The telecommunications network 3210 is itself connected to a host computer 3230, which may be implemented in hardware and/or software in a standalone server, a cloud-based implementation of a server, a distributed server, or as a processing resource in a cluster of servers. The host computer 3230 may be affiliated with or controlled by the service provider or may be operated by or on behalf of the service provider.

Connections

3221, 3222 between telecommunications network 3210 and host computer 3230 may extend directly from core network 3214 to host computer 3230, or may extend via an optional intermediate network 3220. Intermediate network 3220 may be one or a combination of more than one of a public network, a private network, or a serving network; if there are any intermediate networks 3220, the intermediate networks 3220 may be backbone networks or the internet; in particular, the intermediate network 3220 may include two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system in fig. 9 as a whole achieves connectivity between one of the connected

UEs

3291, 3292 and the host computer 3230. Connectivity may be described as over-the-top (OTT) connection 3250. Host computer 3230 and interconnected

UEs

3291, 3292 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection 3250 using an access network 3211, a core network 3214, any intermediate networks 3220, and possibly other infrastructure (not shown) that may act as an intermediary. OTT connection 3250 may be transparent in the following sense: the communication devices participating in the communication through which OTT connection 3250 passes are unaware of the routing of upstream and downstream communications. For example, base station 3212 may not be notified or need not be notified of past routes of upcoming downlink incoming communications with data originating from host computer 3230 to be forwarded (e.g., handed off) to connected UE 3291. Similarly, base station 3212 need not be aware of the future routing of uplink outgoing communications from UE 3291 to host computer 3230.

An example implementation of the UE, base station and host computer according to the embodiment discussed in the above paragraphs will now be described with reference to fig. 10. In the communication system 3300, the host computer 3310 includes: hardware 3315, including communications interfaces 3316, is configured to establish and maintain wired or wireless connections with interfaces of different communication devices of the communication system 3300. The host computer 3310 also includes processing circuitry 3318, which processing circuitry 3318 may have memory capabilities and/or processing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuit 3318 may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or a combination thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The host computer 3310 also includes software 3311, the software 3311 being stored in or accessible by the host computer 3310 and executable by the processing circuit 3318. The software 3311 includes a host application 3312. The host application 3312 is operable to provide services to remote users, such as UE3330 connected via OTT connection 3350, which terminates at UE3330 and host computer 3310. In providing services to remote users, the host application 3312 may provide user data sent using the OTT connection 3350.

The communication system 3300 also includes a base station 3320, which is equipped in a telecommunications system and includes hardware 3325 that enables the base station to communicate with the host computer 3310 and the UE 3330. Hardware 3325 may include: a communication interface 3326 for establishing and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with interfaces of different communication devices of the communication system 3300; and a radio interface 3327 for establishing and maintaining at least one wireless connection 3370 with a UE3330 located in a coverage area (not shown in fig. 10) served by a base station 3320. The communication interface 3326 may be configured to facilitate a connection 3360 with a host computer 3310. The connection 3360 may be a direct connection or the connection may pass through a core network of the telecommunications network (not shown in fig. 10) and/or through one or more intermediate networks external to the telecommunications network. In the illustrated embodiment, the hardware 3325 of the base station 3320 may also include: processing circuitry 3328, which may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The base station 3320 also has software 3321, the software 3321 being stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

The communication system 3300 also includes the already mentioned UE 3330. The hardware 3335 of the UE may include: a radio interface 3337 configured to establish and maintain a wireless connection 3370 with a base station serving the coverage area in which the UE3330 is currently located. The hardware 3335 of the UE3330 further includes: processing circuitry 3338, which may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE3330 also includes software 3331, the software 3331 being stored in or accessible by the UE3330 and executable by the processing circuitry 3338. The software 3331 includes a client application 3332. The client application 3332 is operable to provide services to human and non-human users via the UE3330, with the support of a host computer 3310. In the host computer 3310, the executing host application 3312 is able to communicate with the executing client application 3332 via an OTT connection 3350, which terminates at the UE3330 and the host computer 3310. In providing services to the user, the client application 3332 may receive request data from the host application 3312 and may provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 3350 may communicate both request data and user data. The client application 3332 is capable of interacting with a user to generate user data that it provides.

It is noted that host computer 3310, base station 3320, and UE3330 shown in fig. 10 may be equivalent to host computer 3230, one of

base stations

3212a, 3212b, 3212c, and one of

UEs

3291, 3292, respectively, in fig. 9. That is, the internal workings of these entities may be as shown in fig. 10, while the surrounding network topology may be as shown in fig. 9, independent of each other.

In fig. 10, the OTT connection 3350 has been abstractly drawn to illustrate communication between the host computer 3310 and the user equipment 3330 via the base station 3320, but without explicitly mentioning any intermediate devices and the exact routing of messages via these devices. The network infrastructure may determine routes, may be configured to hide routes for the UE3330, or for the service provider operating the host computer 3310, or both. While the OTT connection 3350 is activated, the network infrastructure may also perform decisions by which to dynamically change routing (e.g., based on network reconfiguration or load balancing considerations).

The wireless connection 3370 between the UE3330 and the base station 3320 is consistent with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE3330 using the OTT connection 3350, with the wireless connection 3370 forming the last part. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments enable improved measurements and handovers and thus provide benefits such as a better user experience.

Another measurement process may be provided for monitoring data rates, delays, and other factors improved by one or more embodiments. There may also be optional network functions for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 between the host computer 3310 and the UE3330 in response to changes in the measurements. The measurement procedures and/or network functions for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 may be implemented in the software 3311 of the host computer 3310, or in the software 3331 of the UE3330, or in both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in conjunction with the communication devices through which OTT connection 3350 passes; these sensors may participate in the measurement process by providing values of the above-mentioned example quantities that are monitored, or by providing values of other physical quantities on which the

software

3311, 3331 may calculate or estimate the quantity that is monitored. The reconfiguration of the OTT connection 3350 may include: message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc.; the reconfiguration need not affect base station 3320 and may be unknown or imperceptible to base station 3320. These procedures and functions may be known and may be implemented in the prior art. In certain embodiments, the measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling to help the host computer 3310 measure throughput, propagation time, delay, etc. The measurement can be carried out as follows: the

software

3311, 3331 sends messages (in particular null messages or "fake" messages) using the OTT connection 3350 while monitoring for propagation time, errors, etc.

Fig. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating a method implemented in a communication system in accordance with one embodiment. A communication system includes: a host computer, a base station and a UE, which may be those described with reference to fig. 9 and 10. To simplify the present disclosure, only the reference numerals of fig. 11 will be included in this section. In a first step 3410 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In optional sub-step 3411 of first step 3410, the host computer provides user data by executing a host application. In a second step 3420, the host computer initiates a transmission to the UE, the transmission carrying user data. In an optional third step 3430, the base station sends (e.g., through a beam) user data to the UE, which is carried in a transmission initiated by the host computer, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In an optional fourth step 3440, the UE executes a client application, which is associated with a host application executed by the host computer.

Fig. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a method implemented in a communication system in accordance with one embodiment. A communication system includes: a host computer, a base station and a UE, which may be those described with reference to fig. 9 and 10. To simplify the present disclosure, only the reference numerals of fig. 12 will be included in this section. In a first step 3510 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional sub-step (not shown), the host computer provides user data by executing a host application. In a second step 3520, the host computer initiates a transmission to the UE, the transmission carrying user data. According to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the transmission may be communicated via a base station. In an optional third step 3530, the UE receives user data carried in a transmission.

Various aspects and embodiments of the disclosure have been described above. Many modifications and other embodiments of the disclosure set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these embodiments of the disclosure pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the embodiments of the disclosure are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

Although various aspects of the disclosure are set out in the independent claims, other aspects of the disclosure include other combinations of features from the described embodiments and/or the dependent claims with the features of the independent claims, and not just the combinations explicitly set out in the claims.

It is also noted herein that while the above describes example embodiments of the disclosure, these descriptions should not be viewed in a limiting sense. Rather, several variations and modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the disclosure as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a user equipment, UE, of measurement reporting, the method comprising:

detecting a plurality of beams from one or more cells served by one or more neighboring nodes of the UE;

obtaining a plurality of measurements corresponding to each beam of the plurality of beams;

forming group measurements based on beam grouping information, wherein the beam grouping information indicates which beams of the plurality of beams belong to the same group, the indication comprising a range of frequency locations; wherein the forming a group measurement comprises: selecting all measurement results of beams belonging to the same group, and obtaining an average value of all the measurement results to obtain the group of measurement results;

transmitting a measurement report to a serving node of the UE, wherein the set of measurement results is included in the measurement report.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining the beam grouping information from the serving node through dedicated signaling; or

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the beam grouping information comprises a mapping relationship between groups and determined beams.

4. The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising, prior to the forming a group measurement:

receiving a preference for measurement reports from the serving node;

the preference is that measurement reports are per group basis.

5. A method implemented by a network node for obtaining measurement reports, the network node being a serving node of a user equipment, UE, the method comprising:

obtaining beam grouping information for one or more neighboring nodes from the one or more neighboring nodes, wherein the beam grouping information indicates which beams of a plurality of beams from one or more cells served by the one or more neighboring nodes belong to a same group, the indication comprising a range of frequency locations;

receiving a measurement report from the UE, wherein the measurement report includes a group measurement result corresponding to the beam grouping information, the group measurement result being an average value obtained based on all measurement results of beams belonging to the same group.

6. The method of claim 5, prior to notifying the beam grouping information of the one or more neighboring nodes, the method further comprising:

7. An apparatus at a user equipment, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processing unit and having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the apparatus to implement any of claims 1-4.

8. An apparatus at a network node, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processing unit and having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the apparatus to implement claim 5 or 6.

9. A method implemented in a communication system (3300), the communication system (3300) including a host computer (3310), a base station (3320), and a user equipment, UE (3330), the method comprising:

providing (3410), at the host computer (3310), user data; and

initiating (3420), at the host computer (3310), a transmission to the UE (3330) carrying the user data via a cellular network comprising the base station (3320), wherein the base station (3320) is configured to perform the method of claim 5 or 6.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the user data is provided at the host computer (3410) by executing a host application (3312),

the method further comprises the following steps:

at the UE (3330), a client application (3332) associated with the host application (3312) is executed (3440).

11. A communication system (3300) comprising a host computer (3310) comprising:

processing circuitry (3318) configured to provide user data; and

a communication interface (3316) configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment, UE, (3330);

wherein the UE (3330) comprises a radio interface (3337) and processing circuitry (3338), the processing circuitry (3338) of the UE configured to perform the method of any of claims 1-4.

12. The communication system (3300) of claim 11, further comprising the UE (3330); the cellular network further comprises a base station (3320), the base station (3320) being configured to communicate with the UE (3330);

processing circuitry (3318) of the host computer (3310) is configured to execute a host application (3312), thereby providing the user data; and

processing circuitry (3338) of the UE is configured to execute a client application (3332) associated with the host application (3312).